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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433693">The Red Bathroom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraNovembr/pseuds/SierraNovembr'>SierraNovembr</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Ghosts, Implied Child Death, Implied Murder, Implied Reincarnation, M/M, Peter Parker (mentioned) - Freeform, Sam Wilson (mentioned) - Freeform, The Shining (1980) - Freeform, The Shining fusion, Tony Stark (mentioned) - Freeform, Tony Stark Bingo 2020, horror movie au, moodboard in ch2, no violence in this scene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:21:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,405</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433693</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraNovembr/pseuds/SierraNovembr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.  It isn't going the way he expected.  Or, Bucky has an unsettling conversation with an impossible man in a very red bathroom.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark (mentioned)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Tony Stark Bingo 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Dialogue taken from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980). Thanks to ribbonsflying on the BBB discord for help with naming the Delbert Grady character.</p><p>Bingo fill details:<br/>Title: The Red Bathroom<br/>Collaborator Name: SierraNovembr<br/>Square Filled: K3 - Pseudo-villian<br/>Ship/Main Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark (mentioned)<br/>Rating: Teen<br/>Major Tags: horror movie AU, The Shining fusion, Ghosts/reincarnation, implied murder, implied child death<br/>Word Count:1405<br/>Summary: Bucky is the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.  It isn't going the way he expected.  Or, Bucky has an unsettling conversation with an impossible man in a very red bathroom.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bathroom was shockingly red, and Bucky blinked against the color for a moment.  He turned at a light touch on his shoulder, and the waiter began fluttering at the spill on Bucky’s jacket with a damp cloth.  After his conversation with Lloyd and his free drink, Bucky was feeling rather genial and forgiving.  His drink was probably salvageable, even after the waiter had spilled several other drinks into it.  Not to mention all over Bucky.</p><p>“Won’t keep you a moment, sir.”</p><p>“Fine,” Bucky agreed.  The man worked in silence, and Bucky quickly felt compelled to fill it.  “What do they call you around here?”</p><p>The man met his eyes and smiled, the kind of mild expression of service workers everywhere.   “Barinov, sir.  Yakov Barinov.”</p><p>The name jolted through Bucky’s mind.  He became aware, all at once, of how close the other man was standing.  He would have sworn the waiter was short, but as of this moment Bucky couldn’t deny that they were of a height. Bucky held himself still as the man went back to his task.</p><p>“Barinov?” His voice went high with disbelief, and what might have been a touch of fear.  The man gave the name with long familiarity.  Bucky squinted.  He didn’t think the man was trying to tease or prank him, but why would he claim <i>that name</i>?</p><p>“Yessir.”  No reaction to Bucky’s scepticism.</p><p>“Yakov Barinov?” Bucky nearly scoffed.  What was the man playing at?</p><p>“That’s right, sir.”</p><p>The man moved down to wipe at the wet spot on the outside of Bucky’s pants.  The drink really had gone everywhere.  He flexed the fingers of his left hand.  It was sticky.  He looked down at his fingers, moved them, felt the skin stretch - oddly.  “Uh.  Mr. Barinov?”  Bucky cleared his throat, forced himself not to look at his hand again.  “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”</p><p>“Why, no, sir.  I don’t believe so.”</p><p>The man was almost frustratingly bland.  He turned back to the sink to moisten the towel again and Bucky leaned after him, trying to get a good look while the man was distracted.  He was completely baffled at the waiter’s casual claim to be a horrific murderer.</p><p>Barinov straightened and wiped at Bucky’s jacket again.  “It’s coming off now, sir.”</p><p>Bucky forced himself not to move.  The red walls crept in towards him.  He looked at his hand again.  There was something odd about his hand.  He cleared his throat.  “Uh, Mr. Barinov?”  His voice was thin in the tiled room.  He met Barinov’s eyes and couldn’t quite hold them. His hand was sticky.  Was sticking?  “Weren’t you once the caretaker here?”  He grinned, nodded, tried to let the other man know he was in on the joke.</p><p>“Why no, sir.  I don’t believe so.”</p><p>What kind of answer was that?  He didn’t believe so? The Overlook Hotel was a responsibility Bucky couldn’t soon forget, but <i>he didn’t believe so.</i></p><p>Fine.  Bucky was determined to figure out what this overly-polite, fastidious prankster was about. Bucky scrutinized the man as he wiped again at Bucky’s pants.  “You a married man, are ya, Mr. Barinov?”</p><p>A small amount of animation came over the man.  Bucky nearly laughed, for all that it was just a slightly less bland smile stealing over the man’s face.  He squinted, trying to see if it reached the man’s unsettling eyes, but Barinov turned his face to Bucky’s sleeve.  “Yes, sir.  I have a wife and two daughters, sir.”</p><p>Bucky grinned; he had him now.  “And, ah, where are they now?”</p><p>“Oh, they’re somewhere around.  I’m not quite sure at the moment, sir.”</p><p>Bucky glared at him and waited, but when no more was forthcoming, he snatched the towel away from the waiter.  He wiped at his fingers.  “Mr. Barinov.  You <i>were</i> the caretaker here.  I recognize you. I saw your pictures in the newspapers.  You, uh, chopped your wife and daughters up into little bits, and then - then you blew your brains out.”</p><p>The man leaned away from Bucky.  He looked <i>puzzled</i>.  His brow furrowed just slightly, a look one might have when one wasn’t sure of the most polite response, not like one was being accused of a heinous crime.</p><p>Bucky threw the towel into the sink. He glared at Barinov.  Would he finally admit the truth?</p><p>The silence stretched.  The room, the hotel itself, seemed to hold its breath.</p><p>“That’s strange, sir,” the man mumbled.  His lips barely seemed to move.  “I don’t have any recollection of that at all.”</p><p>Cold swept through Bucky.  Barinov was telling the truth.  But, he had read about it.  The manager had said...when Bucky asked…  “Mr. Barinov.  You <i>were</i> the caretaker here.”</p><p>Barinov picked at his gloves.  “I'm sorry to differ with you, sir.  But <i>you</i> are the Caretaker.”  Gently, as if Bucky were the one forgetting things. “You’ve always been the Caretaker.”  </p><p>His eyes were arresting.  “I should know, sir. I’ve always been here.”</p><p>Music filtered in from the ballroom.  </p><p>Bucky was going - </p><p>He was - </p><p>He laughed nervously.</p><p>Barinov straightened.  “Did you know, Mr. Barnes, that your son is attempting to bring an outside party into this situation?”  His voice lost its obsequious character, the syllables falling heavier, rolling into something slavic.  “Did you know that?”</p><p>Bucky shook his head.  “No,” he rasped.</p><p>“He is, Mr. Barnes.”</p><p>“Who?”  What could Peter possibly be doing?  They were <i>alone</i> here.  That was the <i>Point.</i></p><p>“The Falcon.”</p><p>“The Falcon?”  Bucky vaguely remembered the man, a genial gap-toothed smile and several trained raptors.  Peter had been fascinated by him - Sam? - and cried when the man had left for the season.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“How?” </p><p>Barinov took a deep breath.  “Your son has a very great talent.  I don’t think you’re aware how great it is.  But he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.”</p><p>The silence stretched out between them again; the music from the ballroom droned on.  Barinov looked severe, almost glowering.  Bucky let out another nervous chuckle.  “He is a very willful boy.”</p><p>Barinov nodded.  “Indeed he is, Mr. Barnes.  A <i>very</i> willful boy. A rather naughty boy.  If I may be so bold, sir.”</p><p>Bucky was having trouble meeting the man’s eyes. He licked his lips. He was being judged as a father and found wanting. </p><p>But Bucky was trying, dammit.  He had been trying to connect with his son for years, but they never seemed to work out.  Peter was too fanciful, too soft.  Tony indulged that in him.  </p><p>“It’s his father.  Tony, uh, interferes.”  Peter’s attitude wasn’t his fault!  If Tony would just man up and deal with him, or let Bucky deal with him, things would go more smoothly.  Children should respect their elders, after all.  Bucky didn’t think that was old-fashioned, though Tony liked to use that phrase whenever they fought about it.</p><p>“Perhaps they need a good talking-to.”  Barinov’s words were measured, reassuring.  Instructive.  Bucky could bring some order back into their situation.  </p><p>Barinov continued, his accent shifting smoothly between the polished servant and something akin to Russian operative.  “If you don’t mind my saying so.  Perhaps, a bit more.  My girls, sir, they didn’t care for The Overlook at first.  One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down.  But I <i>corrected</i> them, sir.”</p><p>A frisson of <i>something</i> went down Bucky’s spine.  Fear, understanding.  He was cold, the bathroom seemed to leech heat directly from his body.  He was frozen.  The waiter’s words dropped like stones in Bucky’s stomach.</p><p>“And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I corrected her.”</p><p>Tony.  </p><p>Bucky knew what Barinov expected.  Bucky did have a duty.  He’d signed up for it.  He was the Caretaker.  </p><p>He must do his duty.</p><p>But why did Tony have to be so difficult?  He wasn’t - it didn’t even seem like Tony was on his side anymore.  He had always been a staunch supporter of Bucky - </p><p>Until Peter.  The boy had distracted Tony - he had so many of his own ideas of what the boy needed - and he wasn’t so much on Bucky’s side anymore.</p><p>This was supposed to be good for them all!  A time to be together.  For Bucky to work without distractions and for Tony to remember what they should be to each other.  Why wasn’t it working?</p><p>Barinov was staring at him.  </p><p>His duty.  He would - </p><p>The red walls were all around him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Moodboard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Title: The Shining moodboard <br/>Name: SierraNovembr<br/>Card number: 3065<br/>TSB Square Filled: Adopted: AU: Horror Movie<br/>Ship/Main Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark<br/>Rating: Teen Major Tags: horror movie AU, The Shining fusion, Ghosts/reincarnation, implied murder<br/>Word Count: n/a<br/>Summary: Bucky is the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
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